


Light-Touched

by Brightmorrow



Series: Enter the Tanglewood [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, Fantasy, Gen, Horses, Lady Knights, Near Death Experiences, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, godly intervention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:35:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23456377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brightmorrow/pseuds/Brightmorrow
Summary: Helaine of House Brightmorrow is dying. Her prayers are answered in person.
Series: Enter the Tanglewood [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1683643
Comments: 8
Kudos: 6





	Light-Touched

**Author's Note:**

> Chronologically, this happens about a year before Helaine's introduction, [On the Weight of Stone.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23405095) Really, these little bits and pieces can be read in any order. 
> 
> Warnings are in the end-notes.

“Damn it, Bratton, have you always been this slow?” Helaine grunted, digging in just a hair with her boots and wincing as the increased speed jolted her. Blood poured sluggishly from a wound in her shoulder, and she knew the smell had to bother him, but he never strayed from the course. He never had, in all their time together. 

She really never had either. And now here she was, twenty-six summers and her lifeblood running out of her, leaving her lightheaded and nauseous. 

“Bratton -” she said quieter, eyes on the tree branches overhead, on the light of the sun streaming through them. The radiance-dappled forest could be peaceful, if not for the war horse charging through it, injured champion on his back. 

Dizzy champion. 

Hurting champion.

_ It would be peaceful if it weren’t for us _ , she thought, and pulled back on the reins instinctively. 

“Sometimes -” she said out loud, leaning down over Bratton’s neck despite the pain. It was one thing to be bleeding - seemed like she was often bleeding for some reason - but the minotaur had charged her with the last of its strength, and while she managed to miss the horns, the force of the blow had done… something. Something painful. Something she didn’t think she’d have to worry about for very much longer. 

“Sometimes I think the whole world would be peaceful, if it weren’t for us - for champions and knights.” 

Bratton slowed, whinnying worriedly. She knew the tone of his whinnies, of his snorts, of his every neigh. They’d been constant companions for six years, and in that time, she’d gotten to know every sound and what it meant, every toss of the head or swish of the tail, every treat he liked and every man he didn’t. 

“It’s okay, boy,” she soothed, darkness at the edges of her vision. She’d always been scared of the dark. Her brother, Hath, had laughed at her, creeping around the manor house at night with magic light in the palm of her hand. 

_ “Won’t you grow out of this fear someday?” he’d asked three summers ago when he’d caught her, hands glowing, trying to make her way back to her room.  _

_ “Won’t  _ you _ grow out of trying to scare people in the middle of the night when they are just trying to get back to sleep?” she’d retorted. The light had dimmed, but not gone out. _

_ “Probably not.”  _

She could hear his laughter, see his smirking face in her mind, his fair hair falling over his blue-green eyes, same as hers. In so much, they were the same, even though many thought them different. 

Would she see him again?

Maybe - maybe she’d ride down to Southern Star Point, where his workshop was. Maybe she’d make peace with him. Whatever they’d fought about, it didn’t seem so important now. 

Bratton huffed and snorted. She swayed in the saddle. She wondered if he’d make it to town with her body. Better not to leave something like that up to chance. Every movement was a deep ache, but she managed to pull up her length of rope from her saddlebag. With her good arm she wrapped it around her hips, tied it off to the pommel. It wouldn’t save her, if she fell. 

If she fell, she’d already be beyond saving. 

_ Pray _ , she thought. _ Make ready the path. _

She’d never been a prayer warrior, as her mother and her grandmother were. She believed, wholeheartedly she believed. She believed so hard that the words never seemed to form, wouldn’t come out of her mouth with the ease of others she knew. Still, it was time. There was no one else here to pray for her. And for this prayer, no one else would do anyway. 

_ Holiest Light,  _ she thought, leaning over Bratton’s back once more - this time less for his comfort, more because she couldn’t really sit up anymore.  _ Sister, please.  _ She closed her eyes, a tear in the corner of one. It dripped down over the bridge of her nose, into her eyelashes.  _ I’m afraid.  _

Bratton reared suddenly, braking. She shuddered, pushing herself up off his back and trying to sit upright without swaying. Spots clouded her vision for a moment, and she blinked, trying to force them away. 

“What’s there, Bratton?” she asked, unable to make out the being standing in a pool of sunlight, so bright it was, so dim her eyes. 

“Do you not recognize your own when you see her?” a voice called, and Bratton turned to the left, stopped in the shadow of a tree. Helaine struggled to turn, to clear her vision. 

“I - I’m sorry -” she stammered, unsure of what to say. “I’m afraid I’m -” 

“You’re afraid,” the voice said, and suddenly Helaine felt the urgent need to go to her, to fall on her knees in the sunlight. “Yes, come Helaine, come to me.” 

She looked at the rope, thick and sturdy, and tugged uselessly at the knot. She’d tied it tightly. She’d meant for someone else to undo her work.

_ Holy Sister, please _ . 

The rope fell from her hips before she even reached for her knife. 

Getting off of Bratton’s back was easier work than getting on had been. She fell to the ground with the clank of metal on earth. She tried to stand, but at some point she’d lost touch with her feet. 

She’d crawl then. That was fine. There was no sense in being proud now. 

Every inch was agony as she struggled across the forest floor. Her lungs burned. Her heart pounded. Her elbows trembled with each movement of her arms. The light dimmed as a cloud passed overhead. 

“Come, Helaine, it’s time, you must hurry,” the voice said. 

“I - can’t you - please?” 

“No, you must come here, to me. You are always coming to me.” 

Helaine nodded. That - it made sense, in a way. She was always coming towards something, someone. It might as well be this. It might as well be the light. 

She struggled to catch her breath, her armor heavy on her broken body. If she could doff it, crawl out of it like a cat in a sweater, or - or something else crawl-y, then she could make it. She knew she could, if she were only out of this heavy plate. 

_ Please, Sister,  _ she prayed, and the pieces began to fall away, clanging loudly to the ground as the buckles failed, as the straps became worn and snapped. Wearily, she navigated around the pile, looking back at it - a mess of silver and gold and crimson, decorated with stars. She loved it, like she loved Bratton, like she loved her life.

She couldn’t take any of it with her. 

“Hurry, Helaine. There isn’t much time. A storm is coming.” 

Helaine nodded and fixed her eyes on the dazzlingly bright being, her voice pure and sweet as temple bells. She crawled a step, her undershirt clinging to her body, drenched in blood. She shuddered and crawled another, her head pounding with the effort, her stomach threatening to rebel at any moment. She crawled one more, and the light was brighter, brighter still, but she couldn’t tell - the cloud had covered her eyes now, and she couldn’t see. 

_ You don’t need to see to find me, do you?  _ The voice rang out in her head. 

“No, I don’t,” Helaine said back, tasting the tang of copper in her mouth. She took a deep breath, swayed on her hands and knees, and pushed - pushed - pushed - 

The light was warm. She could feel it on her upturned face, on her bare arms and legs, how warm and comforting and totally encompassing it was. She collapsed in a heap, not even able to kneel properly, and begged forgiveness at her Holy Sister’s feet. 

“I’ve failed you,” she whispered, the words thick and tasteless in her mouth. “I thought I could do this, but I couldn’t, and now -” 

“You slayed the monster, did you not?” the Light asked, and she knelt down beside Helaine’s huddled form and wrapped herself around her earthly sister. “You beat back the darkness with all you had. You did not fail me, my darling. You did well.” 

“But there’s so much I didn’t do,” Helaine argued, and the weight of the truth hung on her heart. Tears slipped sweetly from her eyes, watering the ground beneath her the same as her blood.

“My sister,” the Light said, stroking her hair back from her face. “You are right. There is so much that you’ve yet to do. That’s why I’m here. To stop you.” 

“To… stop me?” Helaine asked, confused and dizzy. 

“Yes, my love. To stop you. There is such darkness in this world, even the brightest among us cannot beat it back alone. You have tried. The whole continent knows of how you have tried. But no one could manage this burden alone.” 

“I don’t understand…” Helaine admitted, turning her face up. Through her eyelids, the Light burned gently, the red glow of her as warm as her fingers on Helaine’s face. 

“You won’t, not for a while, not ‘til you meet,” the Light promised. “There is someone in the shadows, someone you must find, and free. Only then will your duty be done.” 

“Holy Sister, I am dying,” Helaine said, 

“Are you?” The Light asked, and she pressed a hand to Helaine’s chest, warmth radiating from it. Helaine opened her eyes, looking down in wonder as the wound on her shoulder closed, knit back together by starstuff. Her mouth tasted clean, and the heaviness in her belly eased. Her ribs, one by one shifted back into place, and she gasped as suddenly her breathing eased once more. The bruising that had already begun over her middle faded, and a comfort overwhelmed her like none she’d ever known. 

“We don’t have long,” the Light warned, and Helaine looked up to see the black clouds starting to roll in. “You… won’t remember this.” 

“No, please -” Helaine started, clinging to the Light, but the Light put one finger over Helaine’s mouth to silence her. 

“It’s better this way, my dear, for all of us. I will leave you a gift though. A reminder of what I said, and an aid to find your destiny.” 

Again, she placed a hand on Helaine’s chest, just over her heart, and a brilliance passed from the Light to Helaine, stamping a symbol into her skin. 

“I have to go,” the Light whispered. “But I am listening, Helaine. I am always here. You only need to call.” 

“I am calling now,” Helaine said, and her heart wrenched at the knowledge that she could open her eyes wider, that her sister was fading in the face of the oncoming storm. “Please, stay with me, don’t let me be alone anymore.” 

The Light kissed her forehead very gently and wiped the tears that slid freely down Helaine’s cheeks. “One day you’ll remember this moment,” she said quietly. “And you’ll be very glad I didn’t stay.” 

Helaine blinked her eyes clear, no more darkness, only the soft fading of the Light. 

“Will I see you again?” Helaine asked, clinging to the Light’s hand even as it faded. 

“Yes, I think so,” the Light reassured her. “But do not dwell on it. Your life is here. Live it, Helaine. Be not so afraid of the darkness that you cannot shine.”

Helaine nodded, and overhead the storm clouds rumbled. She tipped her face up to the sky, and the first few drops of rain began to fall. 

“Thank you,” she whispered, and closed her eyes, unable to watch as the Light was covered by shadows. Still, she felt it as the Light touched her cheek, whispered in her ear, “Live. Find her. Shine.”

She put a hand over her heart, looked down to see the symbol of a stag’s head in white upon her breast. 

“I will,” she promised. 

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings for discussion of mortal injury. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! I appreciate all feedback and thrive off of comments. Please let me know what you thought of this story.


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